Mace (spice)

“ As we have seen many of our most valuable food plants are natives of and are now cultivated in temperate regions, but “sugar and spice and all things nice” mostly come from the tropics. What we usually know as spices such as nutmeg, vanilla, ginger, mace, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon are practically all confined to the tropical regions in or near the East Indies, only vanilla being of American origin. ”

“ The planter having his tree arrived at the agreeable point of producing, has but slight trouble in preparing his produce for market. As the fruit is brought in by the gatherers, the mace is carefully removed, pressed together and flattened on a board, exposed to the sun for three or four days, it is then dry enough to be put by in the spice-house until required for exportation, when it is to be screwed into boxes, and becomes the mace of commerce. The average proportion of mace yielded in Singapore is one pound for every 433 nuts. ”

“ The nut is longer than the true species and40 is sold under the name of long nutmeg. California nutmeg, a tree of the pine family, called also stinking nutmeg or stinking yew, from the disagreeable odor of the leaves and wood when bruised and burned, and yielding a fruit resembling true nutmegs. Clove nutmeg, a Madagascar tree of the laurel family, the fruit a pungent kernel resembling the true nutmeg and used as a spice. Peruvian nutmeg, a large tree of the monimiad family, yielding an aromatic fruit. From Borneo a wild, soapy nutmeg and mace (M. fatua) are often palmed off as the true kinds. ”

“ Description—The mace, separated from the seed by hand, is dried in the sun, thereby losing its brilliant red hue and acquiring an orange-brown colour. It has a dull fatty lustre, exudes oil when pressed with the nail, and is horny, brittle, and translucent. Steeped in water it swells rather considerably. The entire arillus, compressed and crumpled by packing, is about 13⁄4 inches long with a general thickness of about 1/20 of an inch or even at 1⁄10 the base. Mace has an agreeable aromatic smell nearly resembling that of nutmeg, and a pungent, spicy, rather acrid taste. ”

“ Oil of nutmegs is a powerful cordial. Mace is an effectual remedy for weakness of the stomach, helps digestion, expels bad humours, and cures flatulence. A plaister of mace and nutmegs in powder, and diluted with rose-water, greatly strengthens the stomach. Being peculiar to Banda, merchants from Java, Malucca, China, and all parts of the Indies, come to Nera and the other towns of Banda to purchase mace and nutmegs ”

“ While strolling or driving through a cinnamon plantation,—and there are plenty of them all over the island, especially in the south,—one seeks in vain to detect the perfume derived from the spice so well known. It is not the bloom nor the berry which creates this scent, but when the bark is being gathered at the semi-annual harvest, the aroma is distinct enough. The spice of commerce is the ground inner bark of the tree, the branches of which are cut, peeled, and dried in the sun. ”

“ Having heard much of it, with no very distinct idea what it is, our people have somehow fallen into the notion that its forte lies in high spicing,—and so, when our cooks put a great abundance of clove, mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon into their preparations, they fancy that they are growing up to be French cooks. But the fact is, that the Americans and English are far more given to spicing than the French. Spices in our made dishes are abundant, and their taste is strongly pronounced. ”

“ The furrows on the surface of the nutty seeds are filled with a white mass which consists of lime, in which the nuts have been laid after drying in order to protect them from the attack of insects. The248 aromatic constituent of nutmeg and of mace is also an ethereal oil. The seeds contain 8-15 percent of ethereal oil with 25 percent of a fatty oil; mace contains 4-15 percent of ethereal oil and 18 percent of fatty oil. As both spices occur in commerce in whole pieces, adulteration is not to be feared. ”

“ When the mace, a bright-red membraneous substance, is removed from the nut it is pressed flat between blocks of wood and left to dry until it has acquired the right color. The preparation of mace for the market requires experience rather than technical knowledge. If packed too green it is liable to mold, and is subject to attacks from insects, which render it valueless in commerce. ”

“ They are particularly aromatic when fresh, abounding in essential oil which is the aromatic property of all kinds of fragrant fruits.
This tree is a native of the West Indies, and is found most abundantly on the limestone hills on the Island of Jamaica. It is the only common spice having its origin in the New World. It is found, but not in abundance, in most of the West India Islands, as well as in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. It takes its name, pimento, from the Spanish word for pepper. ”

“ All-Spice (Pimento) is another common occupant of the domestic spice box. It is popular as a warming cordial, of a sweet odour, and a grateful aromatic taste; but being a native of South America, grows with us only as a stove plant. The leaves and bark are full of inflammable particles, whilst walks between Pimento trees are odorous with a delicious scent. The name All-Spice is given because the berries afford in smell and taste a combination of Cloves, Juniper berries, Cinnamon and Pepper. The special qualities of the Pimento reside in the rind of these berries ”

“ When driers are not used and the weather is wet, mace is dried by being smoked, care being taken not to blacken it. Sometimes the base of the mace is cut off and it is dried in double layers—a process which many think has a tendency to keep worms from working into it, but this is not true, as it, instead, furnishes a place in which they can hide. ”

“ The fleshy scarlet mantle or arillus which envelopes the nutmeg (illustration under nutmeg) , or the coat between the outside pericarp and the seed of the nutmeg, is called mace (Latin, Macis; French, Macis; German, Maker) . It is not a continuous coat, but a network which varies in amount in different localities, as well as on the several species of nuts, being from 0.25 per cent. in the Bandas to 10 per cent. in Jamaica. It would, therefore, require from ten to 400 pounds of nutmegs to produce one pound of mace. ”

“ Drain the liquid through a cullender or sieve, and skim it well. Let it stand till next morning to congeal. Then clean it well from the sediment, and put it into a tin or bell-metal kettle. Stir into it, the cream, sugar, and mace. Boil it hard for five minutes, stirring it several times. Then strain it through a linen cloth or napkin into a large bowl, and add the wine and rose-water.
Set it in a cool place for three or four hours, stirring it very frequently with a spoon, to prevent the cream form separating from the jelly. The more it is stirred the better. Stir it till it is cool. ”

“ There, then, they barter the mace and the nutmeg, which is grown in no other part of the world, and obtain it there in so great quantity that they can lade annually one thousand toneladas of it. They take it dry, in order to carry it to Europa; and to Meca, Ormuz, and all the Orient in a conserve; for it is highly esteemed, as it is a very delicate relish. With mace, pepper, nutmeg, and other drugs they go to Pegu and Sian, where they trade rubies and wax in their factories. They barter those substances in Sumatra for pepper, which they also carry to Ormuz. ”

“ ANCHOVY BUTTER (see No. 227) .
[Illustration: THE CAPISCUM.]
CAYENNE.—This is the most acrid and stimulating spice with which we are acquainted. It is a powder prepared from several varieties of the capsicum annual East-India plants, of which there are three so far naturalized in this country as to be able to grow in the open air: these are the Guinea, the Cherry, and the Bell pepper. All the pods of these are extremely pungent to the taste, and in the green state are used by us as a pickle. When ripe, they are ground into cayenne pepper, and sold as a condiment. ”

“ It is mentioned by Edrisi, who wrote c. 1150, and whose information generally was of much older date, though we do not know what word he uses. The fact that nutmeg and mace are the product of one plant seems to have led to the fiction that clove and cinnamon also came from that same plant. ”

“ The mace is at first of a fine scarlet colour; but, when ripe, it falls off the shell, and is then of an orange colour, as it comes to Europe. They preserve whole nutmegs in sugar, which make the best sweetmeat in India. The Bandanese call nutmegs palla, and mace buaa-palla. There are two sorts of nutmegs; the one being of a long shape, called males, and the other round and reddish, [pg 148] called females, which latter have better taste and flavour than the other. ”

“ The ground spices are used sparingly, with the exception of cayenne pepper. The acetic acid extracts of spices are used because they are economical and give a brighter red color than is obtained with the whole spice. The oil extracts produce no discoloration, but they are the most expensive and give an objectionable flavor. Hungarian sweet paprika is now quite largely used and adds to the color as well as to the flavor. Sugar, salt, and vinegar are added in such proportion as may be desired, and in some brands onions and garlic are used. ”

“ Its acridity is owing to an oleaginous substance called capsicine, and this extremely pungent principle produces a most painful burning in the mouth. Capsicum or chillies is generally imported in bales of 130 pounds each and occasionally is bottled in vinegar when green or ripe. In the large factories a special mill is usually reserved for powdering Cayenne exclusively, instead of burr-stone mills with the ordinary shaking sifter. A high-speed iron plate mill is often used, and in connection with this a large revolving reel is required for sifting the spice as it is ground. ”

“ If we remember how very hard is often the almost horny covering of a bird's tongue, there is nothing remarkable in the fact that the pungency of the capsicum should be felt as an agreeable stimulant, probably having effects analogous to those of mustard, water-cress, or peppermint, with human beings. The oft-quoted liking of tropical pigeons for the nutmeg, with its aromatic coating of mace, points in the same direction. ”

“ The porter below, who works for himself alone, obscure and unknown down in his black hole, the porter below, I say, has but one taste, knows but one friend—a gray-looking paste, semi-liquid, with a very peculiar unsavoury smell, disagreeable enough to any one but himself, which is called the chyme, I scarcely know why, but it is what everything one eats turns into, without exception, be it delicate or coarse by nature. The great lord's truffle-stuffed pullet makes, as nearly as possible, the same chyme as the charcoal-burner's black bread ”

“ Of all the varieties of spices used as a condiment, pepper is the only one which grows on a climbing vine, and there is no kind of spice better known or more esteemed or more extensively used than pepper. ”

“ The white powder you sent me is something very different from the drug you prescribed; it is the powder from which the wine of the Sabbath, the Vinum Sabbati was prepared. No doubt you have read of the Witches' Sabbath, and have laughed at the tales which terrified our ancestors; the black cats, and the broomsticks, and dooms pronounced against some old woman's cow. Since I have known the truth I have often reflected that it is on the whole a happy thing that such burlesque as this is believed, for it serves to conceal much that it is better should not be known generally. ”

“ A Little Clove History—This spice was well known to the ancients and is mentioned by several Chinese authors as in use under the Han dynasty, B. C. 266 to 220, during which period it was customary for the officers of the court to hold the spice in their mouth before addressing the sovereign, in order that their breath might have an agreeable odor. At this period the clove was called fowl’s tongue spice. In 1265 A. D. the price was 12s per lb. In 1609 a ship of the East India Co., called the Consent, brot 112,000 lbs. ”

“ The founder passed the ale, and the visitor took another draught of so vigorous a kind that, after the operation, Mace started off to refill the vessel.
“Ah!” sighed Master Peasegood, “the dreadful draughts that good, weak woman has presented me to drink are something terrible to think of:—agrimony tea, balm wine, camomile tea, and a score more; but the worst of all is that dreadful juice of her sour well-squeezed grapes, that she calleth wine. Master Cobbe, will you kindly pass the ale, and methinks I’ll take a pipe.” ”

“ Whatever icing is left, may be used to make maccaroons or kisses.
POUND CAKE.— Prepare a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and two nutmegs [340] grated or powdered. Mix together in a tumbler, a glass of white wine, a glass of brandy, and a glass of rose water. Sift a pound of the finest flour into a broad pan, and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the sugar into a deep pan, and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Warm them by the fire till soft; and then stir them to a cream. ”